Ranjit Singh
Associate Professor of Political Science and International Affairs | University of Mary Washington
Fredericksburg, VA, UNITED STATES
Dr. Singh has served as an accredited international observer to elections in South Africa, Namibia, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
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Biography
Young Afghan political party activists who received training through a pro-democracy initiative offer hope for effective democratic elections in the war-torn country, according to Ranjit Singh, who spent 10 days researching and reporting in Afghanistan at the request of the U.S.-based National Democratic Institute (NDI) in March 2015.
“Robust political parties are considered essential to modern democracies,” said Dr. Singh, an accredited international election observer who witnessed the Afghan presidential election of 2009 as part of a delegation of foreign policy experts. Singh also has been part of observer delegations during the elections in South Africa and Namibia in 1994, Bangladesh in 1996, Liberia in 1997 and the Gaza Strip in 1996, 2005 and 2006.
An associate professor of political science at the University of Mary Washington, Dr. Singh is an expert on internal relations and elections, policy analysis and the Middle East, Palestine and Bahrain.
Dr. Singh spent seven years living and working in the Middle East, including Egypt, Syria, Jordan, the Persian Gulf, Israel and the Palestinian Occupied Territories. He was a program officer for the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. There he spent two years designing and implementing democracy programs funded by the National Endowment for Democracy and USAID in support of 1996 Palestinian elections. He managed offices and programs in the Occupied Territories for 18 months and consulted regularly with senior Palestinian and Israeli officials, political party leaders and international organizations.
From 1995 to 1996, he was chief facilitator for the Palestinian Domestic Monitoring Committee, a nonpartisan coalition of 40 local nongovernmental organizations. He also has worked as a consultant for a member of the ruling family in Bahrain, conducting historical and legal research on the territorial and maritime boundary disputes between Bahrain and Qatar, and was an Arabic-English translator in Washington, D.C.
Dr. Singh is the author of several scholarly works on the Middle East, including articles that have appeared in Middle East International, Middle East Report, and The Digest of Middle East Studies. He also writes frequent op-eds for local and national newspapers.
Areas of Expertise (6)
International Relations
Policy Analysis
The Middle East
Palestine
Bahrain
International Elections
Education (3)
University of Virginia: Ph.D., Political Science 2005
Georgetown University: M.A., Arab Studies 1992
Mary Washington College: B.A., Political Science 1989
Affiliations (3)
- American Center for Oriental Research : Member
- American Political Science Association : Member
- Middle East Studies Association : Member
Media Appearances (3)
What to expect from Biden's trip to the Middle East
The New Arab online
2022-07-14
Meanwhile, Ranjit Singh, Associate Professor from the Department of Political Science and International Affairs at the Virginia-based University of Mary Washington, points out that even if Biden were to reopen the US Consulate it would do little to address wider Palestinian concerns.
UMW Professor Assesses Afghan Political Party Initiative
The University of Mary Washington online
2015-03-16
Young Afghan political party activists who received training through a pro-democracy initiative offer hope for effective democratic elections in the war-torn country, according to University of Mary Washington Professor Ranjit Singh, who recently returned from a 10-day research and reporting trip to Afghanistan. Singh, associate professor of political science and international relations...
Ghostwriter in Bahrain
With Good Reason online
2012-01-07
In the early 1990s, a young American man worked as a ghostwriter for a member of the royal family of Bahrain. Now, 20 years later, Ranjit Singh (University of Mary Washington) is sharing his story about the man who would become the Bahraini minister of information and a key figure in the brutal response to that country’s recent uprising...
Event Appearances (3)
Teaching Social Media and Middle East Studies
Middle East Studies Association (MESA) Conference Washington, D.C.
2014-11-22
Media, Media Literacy, and Teaching Middle East Studies
Middle East Studies Association (MESA) Conference Washington, D.C.
2013-10-21
The Syria Crisis: Personal, National and Regional Insecurity
National Security Lecture Series Fredericksburg, VA.
2012-10-10
Articles (2)
The Arab opposition molehill
Digest of Middle East Studies2010-01-01
Arab Islamic oppositions have proven largely ineffectual in molding regime outcomes since the liberalizations of the 1980s and 1990s, although many continue to overestimate their potential for propelling reform. This article argues that a keen sense of ...
The Hamas Headache
Middle East Report2006-01-01
Two days before the January 25 Palestinian legislative elections, Birzeit University professor and Hamas campaign adviser Nashat Aqtash found himself in an unusual situation. Bound by U.S. regulations forbidding direct contact with Hamas, the joint National Democratic ...
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